RIDGEFIELD -- After three big storms in two years -- storms that left nearly 2 million Connecticut homes and businesses dark -- the omnipresent hum of gas-powered generators shows that people will make their own juice when utilities stumble.

First Selectman Rudy Marconi thinks at least one power company should help more people fire up.

In a Nov. 21 letter to William Quinlan, senior vice president for emergency preparations at Connecticut Light & Power Co., Marconi asks the utility to start a program that will help state residents buy small generators. While some residents can afford them, most can't, he said in his letter.

Rather than paying the cost of a generator up front -- about $500 for a basic unit -- Marconi said CL&P should use its purchasing power to get such generators at a lower prices.

It could then sell them to customers, letting them pay through monthly installments added to their electricity bills.

"You might pay $25 a month for five years," Marconi said. "But at the end of five years, you'd own it."

Marconi said such a program isn't new. Yankee Gas sold gas water heaters to their customers on an installment plan for many years, he said.

Such a plan, Marconi said, could allow homeowners to afford at least a minimum of supply of power to their homes. In towns like Ridgefield, where nearly everyone has a private well, a generator means heat, light and water.

It means their refrigerator can run for a few hours a day, saving food from spoilage.

"I think you would agree that the safety of our state residents is not only a shared concern to both of us, but a concern that must be dealt with,'' he wrote to Quinlan.

And, because of the severity of these storms and the chance one could hit during the pipe-freezing weather of January or February, Marconi said he hoped CL&P could "prioritize this program immediately."

Gross said that after a major storm -- like Tropical Storm Irene and the October nor'easter in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy last month -- CL&P conducts a full review of its storm work to see what it did and how that work might be improved.

Marconi's proposal might be added to that review, he said.

Two other area first selectmen whose towns were hit hard by the three storms, Natalie Ketcham, of Redding and John Hodge, of New Fairfield, seconded Marconi's plan.

"Any way we can help people be more self-sufficient during a power outage is a good thing," Ketcham said.

Hodge said that such a program might be extended to municipalities and businesses, such as gas stations that are vital to a town after a storm. It would also take some of the burden off CL&P during an outage.

"Obviously, the details would have to be studied," Hodge said. "But on the face of it, I think it's a great idea."